Helping children with special needs to travel safely

Appropriate use of a child restraint significantly reduces the risk of injury to a child in the event of a car crash. However, some parents and carers of children with a disability can find it challenging to obtain a restraint that meets their child’s special needs.

The Transportation of Children with Additional Needs (TOCAN) partnership has addressed this issue by creating a website to assist parents and carers to ensure their child is using a legal and safe child restraint when travelling.

The site also assists occupational therapists and other health practitioners stay up-to-date on the availability of child restraints that meet the relevant Australian/New Zealand Standards and the process of assessing children’s child restraint needs, and prescribing modified or special purpose child restraints.

TOCAN has developed the resource because of its firm belief that all children should be able to travel safely, comfortably and legally.